After eight years as mayor of Boston, Tom Menino spoke Tuesday afternoon to a crowd of several hundred local business leaders and made the case that he should get another four. Projected rock-star-style on a mammoth TV screen, Menino addressed executives at the annual meeting of the Boston Municipal Research Bureau (a government watchdog group), balancing serious discussion of how to sustain economic growth with gripes about the City Council and unnamed critics.

Menino, dubbed the “Urban Mechanic” for his attention to small-bore issues, continued the trend. Characteristically, he interspersed suggestions on traffic management (such as making the Jamaica Way and the Charles River Bridge one-way during rush hour) with meatier matters, like announcing an incipient partnership with the state to develop underutilized state-owned properties and calling for continued support of the beleaguered Convention Center.

But it seemed easier for Menino, who is currently unopposed in the mayoral race, to make the case for his re-election by marginalizing potential opponents than it was for him to present new initiatives. Councilor-at-Large Mickey Roache announced on Monday that he would not be mounting a challenge, but Councilor-at-Large Peggy Davis-Mullen is still considered a potential long-shot rival. Menino took a playful jab at the 10 city councilors in attendance (including Roache and Davis-Mullen), each of whom had boycotted last month’s State of the City address in solidarity with the politically powerful firefighters union, which picketed the speech over an ongoing contract dispute. “It’s great to have so many members of the City Council here today,” he noted. “We know that they are picky about which speeches of mine they attend.”

This time around, Roache, Davis-Mullen, Councilor-at-Large Michael Flaherty, Daniel Conley of Hyde Park, Maureen Feeney of Dorchester, Maura Hennigan of Jamaica Plain, Brian Honan of Allston-Brighton, Jimmy Kelly of South Boston, Mike Ross of the Fenway, and Council President Charles Yancey of North Dorchester all showed up. Chuck Turner, the sole councilor to attend the State of the City, opted out of this one in favor of a hearing at the Department of Public Health concerning its new policy limiting the job opportunities of people with criminal records — a regulation Turner protested last week at a sit-in, leading to his arrest.

In the midst of an upbeat address in which he assured the audience that “the state of our city is safe, secure, and strong,” Menino also went off-script and launched into an attack on unnamed critics of his administration. “I’m tired of hearing the same old names knocking every project in the city,” he said. “It’s the same seven names. Read the paper today, tomorrow, it’s the same people.” Menino clearly hoped to woo the powerful — and deep-pocketed — businessmen with his stay-the-course rhetoric of success. He noted that “Boston is now in its eighth year of economic expansion” and that “we created close to 120,000 new jobs from 1992 to 2000.” But the executives’ response to the speech — only a handful of applause breaks — was respectful, yet far more subdued than the State of the City lovefest, where Menino was interrupted 30 times by a cheering crowd full of City Hall workers.

Councilors seemed equally reserved. “There were definitely parts of it that I found interesting,” Peggy Davis-Mullen offered cautiously. And the mayor’s critics — all seven of them — presumably hope the electorate’s response to Menino will be just as tepid this fall.